Velvet Summer
by wolfy447
Summary: What seems like another slasher story taking place at Camp Kikiwaka turns into something much more terrifying. XanderxRavi
1. Red Velvet Cupcake

It all started with a cupcake. A single, red velvet, vanilla frosting, lonesome cupcake. One that looked like someone with actual culinary skills could have made. This particular cupcake had drawn the attention of Camp Councilors Xander and Lou to the small glass saucer that rested on one of the several otherwise empty wooden tables in the mess hall. "Is it just me... or is the saucer creepier than the cupcake."

It wasn't what Xander expected to hear from his co-councilor, especially the word creepy. Though now that she said it... it was rather odd for someone to leave a cupcake here, in the mess hall, alone, after dark. "It reminds me of the dishware my great grandmother used to use... she's long gone now, and i suspect so are all those cups and plates." His arms cross over the red collard shirt with two out of three buttons undone. His bronze skin reflecting the dim flickering lights up above like he was lathered in oil.

"You think Ravi left it here?" Lou asked with a furrowed brow. Her jeans tight around her thick thighs and her hair pulled back into a pony tail, the logo on her shirt was fading from the amount of use it had. The two of them had been this camps longest running councilors. Ravi, Emma, and Zuri were campers when they showed up just two years ago. Now the three adopted siblings finally had the ranking these two had. However, when confronted, they had no clue why a cupcake was just sitting in the mess hall. The five of them stood around it as if waiting it to move. It wouldn't be the first time food had soul in this kitchen and we don't mean the kind you find in hip hop or R&B but rather the kind you find at a revival in deep south. Something Lou was very familiar with. After a few moments Zuri decided she had an idea. "We could sell it... The campers in this place would kill for the sugar in that thing."

Her sister Emma nodding along as if it was the smartest thing she had heard all day. Maybe heard isn't the right word considering Ravi never shuts up but perhaps a better way to say it is it's the smartest thing she's understood all day. "No..." Lou said. "We have no clue what's in it." Xander had to agree with Lou. "I know it sounds odd but what if it's a trap?" He looked around at the other leaders beside him hoping one of them would back him up. He couldn't help but blush a little as Ravi took his side. "Xander has a point. This whole thing seems so weird."

The lizard lover made eye contact with his sister's boyfriend and decided that it was a mistake. He was lured in. Luckily only Lou noticed this and broke it up right away. "The first thing we need to do is find out who left it here." She spoke with her thick southern accent placing her pointer fingers through the loops of her pants as she spun around to look out the window at the great lawn. Most of the cabin lights were already off.

"The kids are all asleep..." Emma said. "Do you think we should put it in the fridge and wait till morning to find out?" Usually good ideas don't come from Emma, but when they do for some reason no one believes it's a good idea. Not even Xander could agree.

Yes it was the best course of action but since she said it they immediately through it out the window. "No..." He spoke softly eyeing her hoping he wasn't about to piss her off. "I think we need to figure this out now." He huffed and waited for her to respond. It was her glare that let him knew he had made a mistake. "Xander is right..." Ravi chimed in. "This is too weird not to do anything about."

"You know what's weird." She got to his face bending over just a little to reach his height for he was much shorter than her. "The way you look at my boyfriend is weird Ravi. Just know that a man like Xander wouldn't think twice about fucking a dork like you." She grabbed the cupcake with her left hand and smashed it over Ravi's face who screamed in agony as the smell of burning flesh entered the atmosphere.

The remains of the red velvet cupcake were scattered over his coucilor t-shirt and the floor around his feet. He wiped away at the mess on his nose and around his eyes screaming harder as what ever was in the cupcake singed the meat on his fingers and palms. Crashing to his knees he clung to Emma who grabbed a hold of him to keep him balanced. After a moment he lay on the ground unconscious. Zuri had a fire in her eyes when she confronted her sister.

"What did you do?" She eyed the bottle blonde like she could sell her to the greasy men in town who did God knows what with their farm animals. One could only imagine the things they would do to a girl like Emma Ross. "I'm sorry." She whimpered. Xander tucked his hands underneath Ravi's arms. "Lou grab his feet... Help me get him to the infirmary." They both shot her a look as they walked through the double doors carrying a bloody lizard lover out of the mess hall.

Zuri and Emma stood alone in the dim lighting. "What was that about Emma?" Zuri stepped closer crossing her arms demanding her sister to answer before she bashed the glass saucer over her pretty white face. "I don't know..." Emma looked at her baby sister begging for a reprieve. "I don't know what came over me."


	2. Survival Mode

The only person at the camp with any medical training was Hazel. No one liked her and it was because of her obsession with Xander, however right now even she couldn't think about that. As she examined his burns she held her nose, the smell being close to unbearable. "Someone star talking." She rose up taking a deep breath. "This is looking like a lot of paper work."

"Emma-" Before Zuri could even get the words out she was interrupted by a shrill laugh. "Oh this is a family problem. Good I thought I was going to have to call the authorities." Lou stepped forward and slapped her fellow councilor. Hazel stepped back pressing one of her paws to the thick red print on her face. "A cupcake did this damage. I don't get physical with anyone except uncle Joe and he knows why." Her crazy eyes were even scarier than "Cray-zel's"

"A cupcake?" Were the only words she managed to say through the quivering and glare from her fellow campers. "Yeah..." Emma spoke up. "I smashed it on it's face and this happened." Hazel couldn't help but notice that the glare they all saved for her was now being used on Emma. For a split second she felt connected to the girl she dispised with every fiber of her being but it went away the moment Xander started talking. "Is he going to wake up?" The entire time they had been arguing Mr. McCormick had yet to take his eyes away from the boy on the gurney.

Xander sat down in a chair beside him and something told the rest of them he wasn't moving until Ravi's eyes opened up. "I think he's in a coma..." Hazel sighed placing her hands on her hips and tossing her pig tails to one side. "We have to call mom and dad..." Emma looked down at her younger sister. It was here that things got extremely tense. "No." Something had happened to Zuri. She was convinced they needed to do this on their own. "We need to figure out who did this." She spun on her heel and walked out of the building. Emma and Lou shared a look of concern...

Emma looked at Xander... Xander was still looking at Ravi. Emma and Lou walked out of the infirmary following Zuri in hopes the younger child had a plan. Hazel could see the longing in Xander's eyes. It was something she had never seen before. "You know how... in the scary movies..." He began. "When things get serious the characters stop behaving normal?" His pupils met hers and she felt like a deep caught in headlights. "I think maybe it's because when survival mode kicks in... people forget they're still human." She dusted off her skirt as she turned around to grab a bowl of cold water off the dresser. Floating in the water was a rag. "You want to help clean him up? He won't feel anything because he's asleep." She spoke like she was reading his mind. "How are you so calm compared to any other time?" He asked her as he picked up the green wash cloth and rung it out.

"I'm poor Xan'..." She snickered a little. "I face death every day." For a moment, he saw the little girl trapped deep inside Cray-zle that she kept locked away beneath her insane ego. For a moment, he saw Hayzle.

All of the children were drug out of bed, lights flicked on, and informed to meet out on the great lawn. Eighty seven kids in total Jorge and Tiffany finding one another in the mess of bodies. "What's going on?" She asked him as she rubbed her eyes to see the blur of color in his hair was a series of curlers. He shrugged. "I don't know but none of my bunk mates ever came back..." He scoffed like he expected more from them. "Mine either. Must be serious, it's almost midnight." He gave her a funny look. "What's so bad about that?" He asked as he caught a glimpse of Emma Lou and Zuri walking out onto the stage. "If my mother ever get's me out of bed before two AM I can expect the worst." She bit down on her tongue as images of the color red flashed through her mind. Just thinking about that woman made her want to scream.

"Okay... I know it's late." Lou shouted over the crowd of murmuring campers. "Does anyone know about the cupcake in the mess hall?" Poor choice of words caused a riot. One kid in the back shouted "There's cupcakes in the mess hall!" And all of the other kids screamed before running towards the double doors. Jorge and Tiffany were about to follow them before Griff stepped out in front of them with a confused look on his face. "Where have you been?" Jorge asked. "There's cupcakes in the mess hall." Griff was quick to slam his arm down in front of the younger kids. His eyes looking up to the double doors that they had all just now noticed were lighting up with a pattern of blue lights around the frame. After the last kid had entered Kikiwaka's eatery the door pulled themselves shut and a heavy metal gate came sliding down over them to lock into the concrete steps below.

"Oh my god!" Emma was the first one to run off the stage and reach the black and silver bars blocking in their campers. The moment her fingers laced one of the beams, however, she screamed. Pulling back her hands to find the entire cage laced with whatever chemical had been in the cupcake she smashed onto Ravi's face. Tiffany and Jorge looked up at their shaggy headed friend. "How did you know?" They asked in unison. Without looking at them he whispered. "When you grow up in a detention center, you learn how to avoid traps..."

He could feel Zuri's eyes burning a hole in the back of his neck. Turning to look at her he said. "I've been out at the lake all afternoon." He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "I've been talking to my mother if you'd like to see for yourself." The two Councilor's still standing on the stage made their way down to him. Lou took the device from his hands and looked over his call logs. The story checked out, he had been on the phone with her for over two hours. "She's in Romania. digging in some tunnels. She told me she found something." Zuri still wasn't convinced. "Is this some prank gone wrong." She popped the one eye brow to show she wasn't playing his games. "You think I could have set up a- a trigger system like that?" He spat.

"Guys!" Emma shouted. "Help me..." Her blond head hit the grassy ground next to her and her eyes shut in sleep.


	3. The Last Call

Two hours ago...

Everyone was leaving the lake. Griff hung back for a moment as he felt the buzzing in his pocket. Slipping behind an old oak tree that seemed like it held the secrets of life itself he hit the answer button holding it up to his ear.

"Mother?"

"Griff, I- I don't know how to tell you this... but I'm not coming home."

"What? What do you mean?"

"There's been an accident. The catacombs caved in on my crew. Only three of us are left." Out of twelve, a price to pay for answers to the questions no one wants to ask.

"Mom?"

"I have to tell you something." He could hear the panic in her voice, the longing. The way her breaths came out all wheezy like she was losing oxygen with every word. "You know the book I gave you before the summer started?"

"Yes." His mind snapped to the image of his bag hanging on the bathroom door nob in his cabin. Inside he kept this leather bound Journal his mother had given him. Using his free hand he ran his pointer finger and thumb over the key dangling from the thin rope around his neck. His noose had been choking him since he arrived but he promised. "I haven't touched it I swear."

"That's good... but now I need you to open the lock on the book. Don't do it now, do it after I explain this to you. Is anyone around?"

"No..." He wanted to speak as little as possible. If his mother was about to die he wanted to hear her voice as much as he could.

"My friend Tanya, you know Tanya... She and I have been searching for something since we were bunk mates at that camp. It's where I found the Journal. I didn't want you to become obsessed like she and I did but now that I know it's real the secret cannot be buried with me."

"Mom..." The sinking words of a mother admitting she is about to lose her life. Those words being directed towards her son. "I thought I was a disappointment to you."

"Baby no... your mamma has been picking locks since she could talk sweetie. I've been killing for a loaf of bread long before you were ever thought of." She sighed. He could sense the weakness in the tone of her voice. "There's something watching over that camp and it doesn't come bearing gifts."

The sinister tone to her statement sent chills down his spine. "What?" His eyes darting around everywhere as a small ounce of paranoia pumped it's way through his heart and into his blood stream.

"Do you know what kikiwaka stands for?" She whispered. "Kiki is Japanese for Machine. Waka means 'Do it'. The KikiWaka is a machine... a very dangerous machine that wants to collect you for the operative. I'm sure you've met Gladys. When you arrived at camp was there a child she insisted never paid to stay at the camp?"

"Timmy?" His eyes went to the trees as he remembered the little kid he had seen covered in filth a time or two always somewhere in the trees. "His parents have yet to pick him up, he's been out there for two or three years now."

"His parents aren't going to pick him up. They don't exist anymore... same thing happened to Mildred Tillian twenty years ago. Eventually the news said they found her body but that was a lie... She is still out there, she is one of them now."

"One of who?"

"I'm running out of time Griff... everything you need to know is in that journal. Get it, read it, and make sure no one else finds out or it's game over.

"Mom please don't go... I'll stay on the phone with you." He was begging. He couldn't live with himself if he knew he had left her to die alone.

"You're such a good kid..." Her voice was raspy. Her time was almost up. "Shelly?" He listened as his mother tried to wake one of the members of her crew.

"Save your energy mother... you don't have much air left."

They sat there for a good portion of an hour in silence. When his cell beeped he knew her phone had died. Pulling his knees to his chest he sighed as he accepted the inevitable. She was gone. The world seemed to vanish as he shut his eyes. How terrified he was didn't compare to his anger. This was something you can't run from. This was something the universe did to let you know it was time to fulfill some life long destiny. He didn't care.

Resting the back of his shaggy head against the bark of the oak he looked up at the sky. The stars even seemed like they weren't real. Holograms maybe. What if none of this place was real? The campers? The food was obviously fake what the hell are otter nuggets? The councilors?

His hands drooped to either side and he felt something splash his face as his phone hit the ground. His fingers sunk into the puddle that surrounded him and he reached around to pick up his cell which had been white before it slid from his clutch. Now in the bright moonlight the red matter that spread throughout his clothes and down his arms was apparent. It was blood.

Just then he heard the sound of murmuring kids. Sounded like another annoying meeting. Those were real. He shot up and looked around to make sure he was alone. For a moment he had convinced himself that the red glowing eyes looking at him from deep in the trees was something in his mind but he knew better.


	4. Between Worlds

Lou had carried her best friend to their own cabin, certain that taking her to Hazel was the worst possible solution to what had happened. Those two girls would kill each other if they knew they could get away with it. Which given the circumstance there are a few ways one could easily send Emma to the other side without so much as a smoking gun.

She held the door open as she viewed out upon the great lawn. Chuck's dog house just beyond their porch she noticed the door had been knocked down. An eerie feeling wove over her as she looked back at Emma to make sure she was fine before stepping out onto the grass and trotting over to look inside the mini cabin.

What she saw... broke her. Chuck had made the unfortunate mistake of eating one of the cupcakes. Holding a hand over her face to block off the smell she whispered to herself "He never goes into the mess hall."

She nearly screamed when she heard Tiffany's high shrill voice behind her. "What are you doing?" The councilor stood up to look at two of the only three campers that had not gone inside the mess hall standing before her covered in red clay mud. "Is that Chuck?" She asked. Lou slid in the way to protect her from the sight of a melted wolf.

"Where's Xander?" It was the first thing she thought to ask the little girl. "He's still in the infirmary with Ravi." Tiffany was still trying to look past Lou at the mess of bones and flesh inside the dog house. "And Gladys?"

"No one has seen her since yesterday." It was after midnight, Gladys was known for disappearing after dark. Lou was the only one these kids could rely on. "Griff have any luck breaking into the dining hall?" All Tiffany did was nod to say no. Those poor kids must be terrified. Seventy five of them locked away with out a clue what's going on. Whose to say they didn't find a red velvet cupcake... or a hundred.

"We need a phone." Lou shooed her away from the dog kennel. Both of them moving away from wood chuck cabin. Both of them leaving Emma unattended...

Silence, a cold chill down the spine. The door to the cooler opens and in walks Ravi. The moment the heavy metal click echoes in his ear he can't help but wonder why he walked in here to begin with. Placing his hand on the nob he twists it to realize it's locked. Narrowing his vision it dawns upon him that he's trapped.

A confused expression falls upon his face as he presses his back against the cool metal wall and slides down. His calves and arms were uncovered and the temperature had already turned his skin a shade lighter. The entire room was enveloped in a baby blue haze and he shudders as the ice maker buzzes to signify that it's only solidifying more water into blocks of ice.

"The human body is made of seventy percent water." His eyes dart up to meet the boy standing in front of him. To look upon your own face without a reflective surface is to look upon the face of the Yama. "Look what you've gotten yourself into..." The alter him took a seat on top of the ice box to laugh and eye him like he was a camper who had done something just plain awful. "If you don't get out of here... your body will be seventy percent ice..."

It was here that he understood what he was dealing with... "Am I in Nakara?" The impostor only laughed some more at Ravi's question. An odd sensation took over his palms. A warmth beyond his perception. "I'm between worlds." He met the eyes of his opponent. A gentle nod let him know he was right. Of course Ravi knew all about the trial between life and death. A game really, if you succeed you get to return to the mortal coil. If you fail you either dive into an eternity of confusion and torment or you continue the journey of the soul.

"What game have you selected for me?" The young man asked as he rose from the floor to look this creature in the face. "Clearly it is one of self recognition. Otherwise you would look like someone other than me." Another chill ran up his arm and down his spine as he felt another impact of warmth. "You have friends on the other side Ravi Ross..." The creature was eyeing the same hand he kept feeling the sensation with.

"What do you mean?" Just then a loud crash echoed from further back in the cooler, followed by a whine and the sound of a girls voice. "Hello?" It was Emma. Ravi looked back to see the creature was gone. Never has he read of a trial in which more than one soul could enter. "In here!" The boy called out to his sister.

"She came around the corner and smiled when she saw him racing over to throw her arms around his neck. "What's happening?" She was shaking in his frail clutch. "We are between worlds." He assured her. "A misconception of life in a unnecessary death."

Wondering back over to the wall he pressed against it to glide against the silver onto the tile to sit. He stared off at nothingness as his sister peered through the tiny bullet proof glass window in the door. Out there she saw a void of light and darkness. She saw the universe.


	5. Passing Over

Most of the time a slasher has to be prepared for a plan to backfire. For example, if you were told only to kill councilors and your attempt to lock away all the campers until the night was over with failed leaving three Campers out in the open the first thing you need to do is make sure they get the hell out of the way.

You can get rid of innocent bystanders three different ways:

One, Fear.

You could terrify them to the point of running. This is the easiest option but it only works if the person you are trying to frighten is easily frightened. You never know when they would fight back.

Our killer had a taste for vengeance as he spotted Lou and Tiffany walking across the great lawn. They were headed towards the mess hall in search of Griff and Jorge. unfortunately for them the boys had headed back to grizzly cabin to get a few things that might help rescue the other campers, leaving them out in the open with no clue how close to death they actually were.

Perfect timing. All he had to do was take out Lou and Tiffany would bolt for the trees never to return, if he was lucky. She could turn heel and make a dumb decision by running into one of the cabins to hide.

The killer was tall, face covered with a shredded piece of thin light blue felt, wearing the grounds keeper's bloody clothes. In his hands he held a leaf blower from the barn out back, the contents of which held a deadly chemical. The same chemical found in the cupcake and layered out over the bars on the gate surrounding the camp's eatery.

stepping out into view from the shadows of the trees and holding the weapon up to Lou's face who's eyes widened with fear, the killer laughed. You'd think she would scream but Lou is from the south. She doesn't back down to anyone; man, woman, child, invisible flying dragon, or a killer with an obsession with cupcakes.

Her foot met the inside of her attacker's stomach and she sent him flying against the totem pole, his weapon flying through the air and landing on it's trigger to spray an unsuspecting Griff in the face. Lou cried out as she slammed into the killers chest with the brute force of her body crushing their rib-cage and causing them to make an awful crunching noise.

Zuri ran up behind her to rip off the felt to reveal none other than Ravi, Zuri, and Emma's father as well as former councilor Mr. Morgan Ross. His eyes going dead as his youngest daughter whiteness life leaving her body. "I'm so sor-" Zuri's hand met the air to silence Lou. "Don't... this isn't over yet..." She looked over at Griff, probably her favorite person in this entire hell hole excuse for a summer camp.

Walking over and kneeling down she noticed that he was reaching up to her. His mess of a face hadn't hindered his voice enough to keep him from telling her what she needed to hear. "I know... you don't trust..." He swallowed. "Me..." Placing the journal in her hand their eyes met. "But I trust you." Turning over the journal in her hand she read the name scribbled into the back. "Your mother's?" She looked to him as he nodded to confirm her question.

"Kiki means... Machine."  
His head rolled over and one final breath escaped his lips.  
"Take me to my sister." Zuri looked away from the body of her friend. She didn't trust any of these losers. Especially not Emma but she needed to know. She needed to make sure no one else she loved was behind this. All she had to go on right now was her father's corpse and the locked journal in her hand. The key still around Griff's neck.

Lou Jorge and Tiffany followed behind the girl as she made her way across the great lawn back towards wood chuck cabin. All of them looking over at the blood covered dog house just outside as they walked through the door to see Hazel standing above Emma with an IV drip bag.

"Ravi I feel weird." Emma spoke from her spot on the other side of the cooler. He rolled his head with very little effort to pop his eyebrows as his answer. "My body is tingling..." She looked down at her skinny jeans and yellow blouse that looked green in this lighting. "I feel that on my left hand." He assured her. "but just there... no where else."  
"It hurts." She whimpered.

"Ravi stood and cross the room to kneel before her. "It shouldn't..." He took her hands into his own examining her paler than usual flesh. "Unless..." His voice trailed off and concern centered in her mind as she pulled back from him. "Unless what?" She asked but he did not answer. "Unless what!" This time it was a demand.

"Someone is trying to kill you."

"I thought the whole point of being here was that I was already dead." She jumped up. He only shook his head. "No... you're almost dead." He spoke from his crouched position on the floor looking up to her. She crossed her arms and walked to the other side of the room to look out the tiny window. "How do I go back?"

"You engage..." He kept his vision away from the door. For some reason he felt sincere about not giving in to Yama's game. Looking back at her younger brother she asked. "Why haven't you?" He didn't want to tell her, but there was a reason they were both in the same place. It wasn't a trial they both could win. It was a trial they could both lose. Only one person could survive an event like this he was certain of it. Even that was a gamble.

She met him on the floor. "You're a good person Ravi... even if you fail, which you never do, you will continue your ascend into the next realm of consciousness." He gave her a glare that startled her. "You have no clue what your talking about." He spat like she had disrespected him. "You think I don't know about heaven and hell... I may not be on board with the entire concept that christian's and Methodists and Catholics have but I do know that the universe is vast and beautiful." She took his hands into her own. "I see the universe when I look at you Ravi. I don't see eternal flame."

She whimpered as a shock wave of pain flooded through her body. "Emma?" He cried out as she hit the cold hard floor of the cooler. Her body flickered in and out like a hologram. "It's too late for me Ravi... you have to save your baby sister." Her hand still in his he held on till the last second. "I pray you don't go to Naraka." He whispered as she faded out completely.

"Looking up to see his opponent he realized just how alone he was again. "Congratulation's Ravi... you can wake up now." His own voice out of his own body but it wasn't him. Yama had granted him another chance at life. The opponent disappeared and the door to the cooler opened once more. Ravi shut his eyes in anguish as he stood to his feet and sighed, walking out, making sure to shut the door behind him.


	6. Parental Units

Hazel backed away from the body. "I was too late." She sighed taking a seat on Zuri's bed. "You should have brought her straight to me why didn't you?" Resting her head in her hands she let out a groan. "They're going to shut down the camp..." Her words were that of sincerity, Camp Kikiwaka was her home.

Lou took a moment to think about what had just happened. Had her neglect, her paranoia, hindered her from giving Emma the help she needed? "Did I kill my best friend?" Her hushed whisper tone sent chills down everyone's spine. Hazel blew a strand of hair out of her eyes as she stood up and crossed the room to look her life long colleague in the face. "Don't you dare think that for even a second." She demanded. "Someone is going after our friends... we need to stop them."

Zuri stepped between the two of them to glare at Hazel. "How do we know you didn't poison her? What if she's working for them..." Her words centered on the kids around her Jorge, Tiffany, Lou. They all looked to Emma's dead body resting on her own bed.

"Hazel why are you in Wood Chuck Cabin after dark." Her mother's wicked voice came from the frame of the door. Everyone nearly jumped out of their skins as they turned to face her. "You too Jorge, back to bed."

"Gladys..." Lou walked up to her. "Emma is dead. Griff is dead. Ravi is in the infirmary. Where have you been? All of the other campers are locked inside the mess hall you need to call someone." Taking charge was the only thing that made sense to her. She felt like she had failed Emma. She could see the distraught look on Zuri's face.

"The router has been destroyed. All landlines have been cut off and the entire town is dead asleep. If this camp is in danger no one is coming to help us..." The woman looked around at the other kids in the room. "Come on... let's get to the infirmary. We have to stay together and fight back if were going to survive this."

"You've been through this before..." Zuri's vision was centered on the floor but she spoke directly to Gladys. "If my father was one of them maybe you are too." The little woman stood up and grabbed her journal walking out the door and down the length of the great lawn. Her expression changed when it dawned upon her. Griff's body was gone, in it's place was the rope and key from around his neck.

"She knelt down to scoop it up between her fingers eyeing the rusty silver and gold jagged teeth, the holes that looked like eyes carved into a skull with the thing rope pushed through one and out the other. Pulling up her hair she link the necklace dropping it to hang down on her chest. Looking out to the lake she took in a deep breath. This was going to be a long night.

Gasping for air and fighting against an invisible force Ravi flipped himself over on the bed ripping the needles from his veins and grabbing a hold of the heart monitor to chuck it across the room. It shattered against the wall and he drew in several hard and raspy breaths. Looking over he spotted a frightened Xander who had yet to remove himself from his seat next to Ravi's gurney.

"You're awake." Xander could only whisper as he stared at Ravi's face. The burns had seemingly vanished, his skin was crystal clear. Clearer than usual considering only the creator of the universe knew what was in that lake. "And I'm cold as ice. Bring me a jacket i can't feel my arms." The tempo of his heart slowing to a gentle hum in his head.

Xander shot up to walk across the room disappearing into the shadows of the infirmary. After a moment there was a loud crash. Ravi, with his back to the rest of the room, glared forward at the wall behind his bed. His fingers clutching the white sheets and his knees digging into the foam. He had sweat beading on his for head and his mind was hazy as he tried to grasp the reality of rising from the dead.

He slid off the bed and sluggishly made his way across the room. He slipped, his arms reaching out to grab the wall a metal cart spilled over sending needles and liquid flying every which way. Stepping through the curtain into the next room he rested himself against the frame of the door to look around. His blurry vision centering on first; Xander only second did he notice the person holding onto Xander.

The young man in the gown glared as he drew in another slow breath as he took a moment to recognize the face of his adopted mother. "Mrs. Ross." He cleared his throat. She only laughed. "Now Ravi... is that any way to say hello to your mom?" She asked as she followed his gaze to the scalpel she was holding to Xander's chiseled jaw line.

There was a reason he and Emma shared the same vision of the world between life and death. It was this place. It was what interconnected them. This woman before him and her husband, who lay just beyond the exit of the infirmary dead out on the great lawn, had been training him all along. He was always curious as to why his mother had been so lenient when it came to him and his siblings. At first he thought it was a privilege of being rich but no. It was about how much they wanted them to be prepared for.

"You are no misses mommy of mine... you are the unquenchable thirst of Yama's fiery pits of Naraka." Christina was shocked. Her son had been so quick to assume she was the bad guy. "I'm trying to protect you Ravi..." She whined as Xander drew in a quick breath feeling the tip of the blade in his neck. "From Emma's dumb boyfriend?"

"Dude..." He whimpered like Ravi's statement was more painful that the death that awaited him at the handle of her weapon. "No offense bro but her mind games encourage my honesty." His sinister tone was out of the ordinary. It's as though Ravi wasn't there anymore. Something wicked and angry stood in it's place. "Emma's dead." The lizard lover looked away catching a glimpse of Ms. Kippling's tale swivel behind one of the beams just outside. Ravi snickered as he looked back at the scene taking place before him.

Two, confusion.

"When a killer wants someone out of their way, that insists on playing the hero, they share a little bit of the truth but they season it with the sweet taste of lies to disarm the innocent. "There is a secret society beneath this place." She warned. "People like Gladys and her daughter work for them. Lou..." She swatted the back of her victims head. "Xander here... they are evil baby. I'm just trying to protect you. Go find your sister..."

"She let out a shrill scream as the water monitor bit into the flesh of her calf ripping muscle from bone. Xander slipped from her grip and darted for the door. Spinning on his heel and fighting through the agonizing vibration of his skull he picked up one of the needles lying on the ground and sent it flying to the woman's face./p  
p style="margin-bottom: .25in; border: none; padding: 0in; line-height: .25in;"Holding her hands up to block it the needle sank into her wrists. She ripped it out and growled as she stumbled to hold on to the counter. "I don't think you understand Ravi... I don't think you know why you were created." A gun shot rang out and a bullet fell out of her forehead.

Christina fell to her knees and behind her stood the grounds keeper in his underwear stab wounds and blood all over his surprisingly toned chest. "That woman tried to kill me." He sighed eyeing the lizard as she slithered away. "Thank the gods she didn't..." Ravi groaned as he followed his pet out onto the great lawn. What did she mean? Created for?


End file.
